La vita è bella

1998 through 2007
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Sabin
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Re: La vita è bella

Post by Sabin »

It's been about ten years since I've seen La Vita E Bella. I fall somewhere in the middle. I enjoy it quite a bit, but I don't think it's a masterpiece or anything. I find it emotional, affecting, occasionally quite funny, and probably about as good as a willfully simple film can be. By the same token, you can argue that Saving Private Ryan is just as willfully simple. Just as Roberto Benigni is playing Holocaust, Steven Spielberg is playing WWII. I think the difference is that Spielberg is a better filmmaker and better at hiding his true intentions, which is to honor the veterans of WWII within the guise of the kind of war movie from the 40's that isn't really remembered today and for mostly good reason. I would argue that Shakespeare in Love is a stronger achievement than both if only because its premise is irresistible AND great romantic comedies know exactly how to be simple and complex in equal measure. It's a special crowd-pleaser.

At the time of the 1999 Academy Awards hosted by Whoopi Goldberg (for my money, just as wretched a viewing experience as this past year), I was a big fan of La Vie E Bella, Shakespeare in Love, and Saving Private Ryan, and lukewarm on Elizabeth and The Thin Red Line. Now, I think The Thin Red Line is the best film nominated for Best Picture of the 90s and onward. I think it's one of the mostly profoundly beautiful films ever, and its nomination in that regard is a head-scratcher especially in its given company. At the time, I was angry that The Truman Show wasn't nominated, but who thinks about that film today? There are four movies that I adore from 1998 and they are in order Rushmore, The Thin Red Line, Out of Sight, and Gods and Monsters. La Vita e Bella is a good movie, and for the most part a very good movie. I'm no snob. It successfully walks a tightrope and I was moved, but I don't think it has much subtlety to it, it's not the kind of moviemaking where you can pick much more up from subsequent viewings, and the Benigni onslaught did leave a bad taste in my mouth. At this point, I would say that it's an Overrated Oscar Winner that has become somewhat underrated in the past decade or so.
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Big Magilla
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Re: La vita è bella

Post by Big Magilla »

This was probably the greatest cause celebre of the UAADB's existence. The discussions twelve years ago were quite heated. Incidentally the man whose life story inspired Benigni's character died this past week. I'm surprised no one commented on it.

Some of us, including me, liked the film, liked Benigni's performance but thought one of the other nominees should have won. Tom Hanks was probably the only nominee who didn't have his partisans. Most of the animosity toward Benigni was because of his Oscar campaign orcdhestrated by Harvey Weinstein. He was used like a tool by Harvey, shamelessly touted out at one Hollywood party after another where he purportedly acted the fool as he did at the Golden Globes and even more infamously at the Oscars when he leaped up on chairs. Some found his behavior disarming. Some even found it charming. Most of us here were not amused.
ksrymy
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La vita è bella

Post by ksrymy »

So I've been looking at a lot of polls and reading a lot of your discussions. I highly value all of your opinions but one thing I seemed to notice is that everyone here seems to have a vendetta against Roberto Benigni in Life is Beautiful. Was it because he beat Tom Hanks, Ian McKellen, Edward Norton, and Nick Nolte? Do you just not find his performance original or fantastic? Do you even like the movie? This film is probably one of my personal favorite films and I'd just like to hear all your opinions on it.
"Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known." - F. Scott Fitzgerald
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